PERSONAL NARRATIVE

My scholastic media experience has involved a lot of work in many different aspects of the newspaper. The areas in which I have worked are copy, social media, writing, and business. 

​

As a copy staffer, I have to edit all of the work created in my class. These works include articles, captions, social media posts, briefs, and more. My experience in editing these pieces has been an overall positive one. Throughout the year, I spent time reading and annotating chapters of the AP Stylebook which helped with my copy editing. Also, by sending the pieces that I edited to my copy editor (Jeremiah), I was able to see the edits I missed to make sure I catch them the next time. In addition, I have created some copy presentations for the staff which has contributed to my deeper understanding of copy skills. Editing so many pieces for The Muse has helped my copy editing become more efficient and thorough. Even though I struggled slightly at the beginning of my time on The Muse with editing, I worked hard and practiced a lot to improve my editing abilities. 

​

Since I am a part of the copy section, I also have to help with social media. I do a social media post almost every week in categories such as outfits of the day, teacher spotlights, and sports team spotlights. Although I did not expect to do anything with social media when I joined the newspaper staff, I was able to explore an area of The Muse about which I did not know much by going out, interviewing people, and taking photos. In addition, it has allowed me to step out of my comfort zone because I am more comfortable with copy editing than creating Instagram posts. 

​

Even though I have not yet written any articles for The Muse, I have written briefs. I enjoy writing, so being required to write briefs has allowed me to report on smaller stories that do not need to be told in the newspaper in long articles. Writing these briefs has helped me maintain my journalistic writing skills without having to take too much time writing a more detailed story. 

​

As a part of The Muse, I have to get 100 business points about every month. To get these points, I have gone to businesses to try to persuade them to purchase ads and asked family and friends to purchase subscriptions to The Muse and donate money. Approaching local businesses gave me experience in acting professionally and helped me work on how to communicate a sales and marketing pitch to people. 

​

In my future high school years, I hope to continue developing my journalistic skills. I hope to be a copy editor my Junior year and either a managing editor or an editor-in-chief my Senior year. Additionally, I want to write more articles and report on topics that are important to me and to my community. After high school, I would like to continue in the field of journalism in some way, but I am not sure yet if journalism will be my focus. 

​

Overall, my scholastic media experience has had many ups and downs. At the beginning of the school year, it was stressful and a lot more work than I expected coming in as a copy staffer to The Muse. For example, I struggled at the beginning because I had to learn how to write social media posts correctly, how to approach businesses, and how to edit copy specifically to The Muse’s style. Nonetheless, I have enjoyed my experience working in many areas of The Muse, and I have improved greatly.